Thursday, October 2, 2008

September - Spanish Cuff Bracelet


Hiya, everybody. I had some effort getting started in this Bead Journal Project08. I didn't understand exactly how the whole thing worked. In my defense, I have a lot of trouble following instructions. Even when I read very slowly I miss key instructions.

But I did get started. I had decided that I would make a different piece of artisan jewellery each month and there certainly are enough categories to cover all the months, and then some.

I tried really hard with September's chapter: a cuff bracelet built on a memory wire frame. I made some wrapped wooden beads to use in the cuff. I got out some goldfilled tube beads. I dug out my copper wire. Everything I tried to keep that cuff shape was defeated. More times than I wish to remember the whole memory wire frame exploded in my face. It got to the point that I refused to get down on the floor again to retrieve the wee beads I was using.

I gave up only to go back with a new idea. It's hard to let an inanimate object get the better of you. That's what I think.

Then along came the Fall Bead Oasis Show in Toronto and I went to my day long workshop with Jelcy Romberg: a wirework class. Hah!! I knew memory wire was to be part of the instruction. Now, thought I, that memory wire cuff skeleton will finally be beaten into submission.

The wire cuff Jelcy showed us wasn't what I had expected. I wanted a cuff like a bangle and her technique was a cuff like a snake wrapping around the wrist. She also taught wire coil beads.

I gave it a shot when I got home: I added my floss wrapped wooden beads, my goldfilled bugle beads and some rocaille beads, too. I added some of the wire coil beads. I did it all one night. And I allowed my memory wire cuff to sit.

Truly, when I got up the next day I had given up on my snake coil memory wire cuff.
I made another bracelet using a different wire coiling technique. It was pretty rough but my sister, the recipient of the finished project, approved of it. So I made up a good version and liked it well enough to add a pair of earrings to match. It met with approval from my sister and from some of her colleagues and family members of some of her clients.
I really like these earrings and, generally speaking, earrings are quick to assemble. I've decided to make a different pair of earrings each month to 'go' with the main project for that month.

The day after that I noticed the snake-y memory wire cuff bracelet lying where it fell when I tossed it onto my workbench. Perhaps it was the way the light hit it. Or maybe it was the way I was holding my mouth. Then again, it might have been my powerful meds had finally started working. It really doesn't matter: I thought the failure cuff bracelet was a success.

My sister wore it to work yesterday and got even more compliments on it than on the other wire coil bracelet. It was Serendipity, one of my personal, favourite godlettes, at work: there's no other explanation.
So, to summarize. I went from having a big zero entry for September, not a good start to the project, to having 2 very different bracelets and a pair of earrings. Not too bad.

Glass0Beads

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